How many RDC's and Doodlebugs are in operation at tourist railroads in the lower 48 as of last year which are expected to be back in operation for 2009? I've never gotten a chance to ride on one, so I was wondering if the fellow members could come up with the info they know about lines that are planning to operate their cars for this year.

I believe there are two museums up in British Columbia that operate RDC trains as well, as well as VIA Rail's Malahat train on Vancouver Island and the Alaska Railroad still uses a RDC on the Hurricane Turn.

If anyone else has any info, even if you think it's on an operation that you think, "That's too obvious, everyone knows about that one!", please post, because it may be about an operation with a self-propelled car that everyone doesn't know about. I know there are a few cars out there that were operating just a few years ago that might be museum pieces now, so if anyone knows about an active car, let us know!

CMSL (Cape May Seashore Lines) http://www.capemayseashorelines.org/ in southern New Jersey has two RDC's that are fully capable of running under their own power but are typically mixed in with standard coaches and used as cab cars with a GP-9 or F-7 on the other end. Overall, CMSL has eight of the nine surviving ex-PRSL RDC's but most of them are in poor condition and would require substantial overhauls to get them running, having been heavily vandalized while in storage.

Stmtrolleyguy wrote:The Conway Scenic in Conway, NH recently got an RDC.
I'm not sure where they got it from, but I've seen pictures of it doing test runs after getting a fresh coat of paint this spring. {picture removed for brevity}

I could be wrong, but IIRC the Conway RDC was previously Susquehanna, sold off after the passing of Mr. Walter Rich.

Just an update from an old post of mine, the Eagle Cap Train in northeastern Oregon no longer uses the three RDCs and they are for sale. For the rest of this year they are using a locomotive and passenger cars. It's rumored that this year might be the last year for the train.

However, TriMet has purchased two ex-Alaska Railroad RDCs for use as backup vehicles for the Colorado Railcar DMUs for WES.

So Oregon, for having no historical (original) users of the RDC, now has nine RDCs throughout the state:

Garibaldi: Two RDC-1s used for dinner train and special excursions on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad/Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad (Ex-CNJ)
Tigard: Two RDC-9s in storage by the Pacific Northwest Chapter NRHS. Have not been used in many years. Driveshafts are removed, original engines still installed potentially for onboard electric generation. (Ex-Boston & Maine/MBTA)
Wilsonville: Two RDC-2s owned by TriMet to be used for WES. (Ex-Alaska Railroad)
Elgin: Two RDC-1s and an RDC-3 formerly used for Eagle Cap Train service, now in storage and for sale. Formerly used on Lewis & Clark Explorer Train between Portland and Astoria. (Purchased from BCRail; heritage is GN and unknown.)

The TriMet WES Ex-Alaska RDCs: #711 is an RDC-2 and #702 was built as an RDC-3 and rebuilt with the baggage-mail area as a single baggage section with a single side door on each side. They were both originally New Haven RDCs.

The Lewis & Clark Explorer/Eagle Cap RDCs: The RDC-3 #31 was originally Great Northern: GN's only RDC. The RDC-1s are original BC Rail RDCs purchased new by BC Rail's predecessor Pacific Great Eastern.

The two operable CMSL RDC-1's ran weekly up to the Labor Day weekend this year between Rio Grande and Cape May, NJ. The first day's trips were made with PRR GP-7 #9000 to knock the rust off the tracks but the balance of the trips were run with M-407 and M-410 under their own power.